Stone me, what a diet

July 22 2003

A farmer in eastern China addicted to swallowing pebbles was taken to hospital after reportedly eating an estimated three tonnes of stones over a nine-year period.

Hu Ershun, from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, started eating stones when he had a belly ache as a 12-year-old boy, and at the peak of his addiction gulped down up to 90 pebbles a day, the South China Morning Post reported.

He was taken to hospital where the remaining stones were removed from his gut, the newspaper said. Hu was reported in a stable condition.